Prep School sport stars win Warwick Netball Tournament

King’s High School Warwick Preparatory School: U10 Netball Tournament

Having witnessed ever-changing weather conditions over the last few days, we woke very early on Saturday morning to sunshine and a cool breeze. This was a good start for the King’s Worcester U10 Netball Team, with girls representing both King’s Hawford and King’s St Alban’s.

The young Year Five netballers duly set off from King’s Hawford for the King’s High School, Warwick Prep Netball Tournament. The U10s have been practising Bee Netball in preparation for the last tournament of the season, which would see them play a total of eight games. How they adapted to each position was one of the outstanding parts of the morning, followed by some clear learning and development as each match progressed.

Our first game was against King Henry VIII Junior School. The girls showed little signs of nerves as they took to the court with focus and energy. We quickly showed a dominance of the court, with some lovely centre-court play from Zara, Millie and Marnie. Both squads quickly formed a cohesive group, exhibiting exceptional teamwork from the first centre pass, and the unwavering determination paid off as we won 10-0.

Next up, with a rotation change, we faced The Blue Coat School, a team we play regularly during fixtures. The game started well and was evenly balanced, with goals being scored at both ends. With a change of positions at half time, we intercepted several balls in defence; Skye and Pippa P played exceptionally well, stopping the goal difference increasing. We continued to attack with confidence and ended up winning the match 3-2, which was an excellent victory.

After a short break we faced the team from Spratton Hall Preparatory School. The King’s team was proving to be a super group of girls, who were all keen to play and learn, and all were extremely coachable. We were ahead throughout the game, but had a particularly strong second half, as the girls took on board feedback about passing and slowing down the centre-court play. We were defensively strong throughout, with many interceptions from Georgia and Maddie and accurate shooting from Zara and Pippa P, and full-time saw another win for the team, 9-1.

With back-to-back games, there was little time for the team to catch a breath. Swapping patches and changing rotations saw us against The Croft in our fourth game. The outstanding work rate from Millie, Marnie and Zara, along with some excellent close marking and intercepting from Georgia and Skye saw us turn the ball over many times. We proved to be very strong defensively in this rotation, particularly in the Defensive D, where we dominated the play and controlled the pace of the game with our interceptions, winning the game 7-2.

In the second half of the tournament, we first faced Bablake Junior School. In the first half it was very much end-to-end play, but what was pleasing to see was the team adapt relatively quickly to the different styles of plays from all the schools: we were landing sensibly and waiting for players to make their move. Zara and Marnie combined well in the Defensive D, with Pippa and Maddie also working well together and making some excellent dodging moves to lose the GK and GD. With consistently driving into space and shots consistently being scored, we won the game 6-2.

With the girls showing no signs of fatigue, we were quickly switching positions and taking up our places on court to play Winchester House School. We did look a little scrappy at times, trying to rush the ball down the court, but we settled into the game and made some outstanding interceptions, marked tightly, and put pressure on our opponents. The shooting pair of Marnie and Millie, with Zara at Centre, did well to capitalise on opportunities, and we dominated the remainder of the game, winning 6-2.

With a short break before our next match, we gave the girls some coaching advice and headed into our next game against Stamford Junior School. We were a little flustered to begin with, and fatigued, as well as suffering our first icepack-requiring injury of the day. With King’s throwing wild passes and not holding our structure in attack, Stamford were starting to take advantage but, with the continued support of family and friends on the side-lines, we settled, gained a better structure, and saw some great shooting from Skye and Millie, thus controlling the game and taking the win 8-4.

The last game of the tournament was against the hosts, Warwick Prep. This was an exciting game from the start, where the team played strong attacking netball, pouncing on any opportunities to gain possession. In the first half, shooters Zara and Georgia were on top form, with rare misses and excellent movement into the D. Millie had a great game at both ends of the court, showing all her skills and performing accurate footwork. Marnie and Skye were quick off the lines at the start of each centre pass and worked tirelessly in defence, gaining valuable rebounds. Pippa and Maddie had an energetic game, marking tightly and not losing sight of their opponents. A great display of Netball saw us take the victory, 9-2.

Throughout the tournament, the U10s played eight matches against a variety of schools, all of which helped us to explore different game plans and strategies. We were delighted to be crowned undefeated champions of the tournament, which was an amazing but well-deserved result. This tournament was the chance to join our two prep schools together and play against schools with whom we do not have regular fixtures in term time.

Throughout the tournament, the girls were receiving constant team talks, motivational words, and support from the side-lines. During all the games played, we stayed calm and focused, playing to the very best of our ability. Mrs Beech, Mrs Butt and Miss Jordan were proud of all the girls and grateful to the parents, siblings, friends and the King’s Worcester Senior Staff who came to support on a chilly but bright Saturday morning. The girls should all be incredibly happy with how they played as individuals and as a King’s Foundation Team.